Adventures in Lagendia : World of the Goddess
by ChrolloXIII
Summary: Join on the journey of our heroes in Lagendia; a world filled with exciting and thrilling adventures. Follow them as they get stronger during their journey to save the world. (Mainly use the story plot from the game's Main Quest)
1. Prologue

A/N : Hi ! Chrollo here~ I've been reading fanfics for quite sometime and are in progress of writing one ^^ this is my first fic of the game I really liked, Dragon Nest. This first chapter would be a little prologue about the world setting for this story. well, that's all for now. Hope you enjoy the read~ R&R please~

Disclaimer : I don't own Dragon Nest.

**Prologue**

**I. Lagendia's Origin | Vestinel & Altea**

The realm of gods

A long time ago, the king of all gods Desmodius, foresaw a prophecy. That he will manifest his power to a lustre, a magical gem, that will offer blessings to the new world his daughter created. That lustre will then be retrieved by a mortal inhabitant of that world, and bring peace & prosperity for the world. He then tells this prophecy to his daughters, Vestinel and Altea.

Vestinel and Altea make a competition to decide which one of the will win their father's heart. Both of them created their own world through their dreams, their ideal world, created and filled with inhabitants as the world grew. Altea's world, known as Lagendia is the exact opposite of Vestinel's world, the Mistland.

Lagendia is a peaceful world, inhabited by the ancients, A race that are blessed by their goddess, that takes care of the world. There also existed other inhabitants in Lagendia, Humans, Elves, Minotaurs, Goblins, et cetera. And there also existed creatures that are given the task to protect Lagendia, The Ancient dragon, Sentinel and the Chaos dragon, Tempest.

On the other hand, Mistland, while being a mirror of Lagendia, is a mysterious world. As the name suggested, Mistland is covered in mist, the inhabitants of that world are dark creatures that lust for blood and destruction, with the Beyond dragon, Void, as the supreme creature and later the ruler of Mistland

Then, the two worlds were completed in fulfillment to the prophecy. While Lagendia filled Desmodius with joy, Mistland frightened him. In the end, altea won. Vestinel, jealous of Altea's victory, poisoned her and took the antidote when Desmodius banished her.

A goddess cannot die, thus forcing Altea enduring the pain from the poison, as she fell asleep for eternity. When this event took place at the realm of gods, Lagendia continued to flourish; unaware of the chaotic predicament to come as Altea's condition began to manifest itself into the world she created.

**II. The Fading Light**

Lagendia

As Altea fell into a pain filled slumber, she began having nightmares in her sleep. Her power slowly slipping through her unconscious state, and the nightmares began to take form in Lagendia.

The Ancients, the first inhabitants of Lagendia, is a race that received blessings directly from Altea, Making them very advanced in technology and having the knowledge and ability to use magic. They even created the power imbued metal plates known as Heraldries to help in their daily lives. Most of the ancients are a descendant of the two dragons, Tempest and Sentinel. Their role is to take care of Lagendia, doing good deeds, realizing peace, and protecting it.

Altea's is the one who make sure of the well-being of her world and her creation. When she fell into her slumber state, a lot of her creations felt the effect. Elves, her direct descendant, become mortals. A lot of her other creation, Goblins, Minotaurs, Ogres, and other creatures going berserk. Humans and dragons were the least affected by her state.

Unaware of the fact that their goddess fate, the ancients continued on their role and lived on. But slowly, the ancients fell to the darkness. One by one, they started to abandon their task, doing as they please with their power. Until at a certain point, most of the ancient heart corrupted and fell into darkness.

The corrupted ancients then seek to destroy Lagendia. And having the knowledge about magic, they came up with the best (or worst in this case) way to destroy the world. There existed an ancient artifact, known as Monolith, the heart of Lagendia. This Monolith, filled with Altea's power, is what keeping Lagendia apart from dimensional rifts, blocking the Mistworld inhabitants from entering Lagendia.

The dragons noticed the ancients strange behavior and found out about their plan to destroy the Monolith. The dragons barely made it to protect the Monolith, then the battle between dragons and the corrupted ancients began. But as the battle continued, the Monolith shattered, creating distortion in space and time, creating a bridge between Lagendia and Mistland.

Meanwhile, a powerful being that rested in the depths of the abandoned Mistland noticed that openings and begin to make its move.

**III. The Three Dragons**

After the battle, a few corrupted ancients that survived fled away, hiding from the wrath of the dragons. Sentinel and Tempest were severely injured, but they now have a new problem at hand. They need to fix the distortion in time and space that connects Lagendia and Mistland. Sentinel began to collect the shattered Monolith while Tempest tried whatever he could to close the openings.

The shattered Monolith is gathered, but as it is irreparable, Sentinel had no other choice but to leave it as it is. He fused some of his power to make sure the Monolith remain functional as it possibly could. Sentinel then head to where Tempest is, to help Tempest with his task and ask Tempest to fuse some of his power to the Monolith as well.

Tempest on the other hand, tried to fix the ripped fabric of time and space, a very exhausting and delicate work, even for a dragon. As he proceed to close the connection between the two worlds one after another, A huge power burst out from one of the opening, damaging Tempest and pushing him back. As Tempest regained his composure, he saw The Beyond dragon, Void, forcefully break through the opening and entered Lagendia.

Void, having entered Lagendia, began to destroy everything in its wake, leveled a whole mountain and razing a sea of forest with ease. He also widened the opening between the two worlds, making the chaotic and abyssal mist from Mistland entered Lagendia. But thanks to Sentinel work at the Monolith, the residents of Mistland are still unable to cross.

Tempest battled against Void, Preventing him from further damaging Lagendia. Tempest who can control 4 elements (Earth, Fire, Water, and Wind) as well as light magic, fought against Void who can control darkness are capable of controlling gravity, time and poison. Tempest slowly being pushed back and over powered by void. As Void charge towards Tempest, he was heavily hit by a concentrated Light magic. Sentinel has arrived to help Tempest.

Together with the badly injured Tempest, Sentinel fought against Void with his pure magic and holy attribute elements. The combined power of Sentinel and Tempest managed to push Void back to the opening. But the damaged Beyond dragon got enraged and charges blindly and rush towards the two dragons.

The battle continued fiercely, the whole Lagendia feels the quake of clashing powers between the three dragons. The badly injured Tempest and Sentinel united their magic in the form of a breath attack to finish Void, but Void, noticed an opening when the dragons unleash their breath. He then concentrated his remaining power to fire his last breath, towards Tempest.

Void died from the impact of the dragon breath, his body destroyed in the process. Sentinel was glad, but when he looked at his brother, grief filled the air. His brother, who is badly injured, is now on the verge of death. The miasma from Void's last breath eats away Tempest body and soul. Sentinel tried everything he could with his Holy & Light magic, but to no avail. In the end, Tempest passed away. The remains of his body still bleeding and rotting away.

Void's soul, still angered from his defeat, entered Tempest body. Revived as Undead dragon with Void evil power at its core, the undead Tempest charged towards Sentinel. Sentinel, fight and defeated Void who has taken his beloved brother body. He shed tears as he delivered the final blow to kill Void.

Sentinel lied in grief over Tempest dead body, when suddenly Tempest body starts to glow a dark aura. Void's power is still lingering inside; shattered the body into 8 lustres and spread into the whole world, damaging Sentinel in the process.

Due to the damage he received from the battle and the lustre, Sentinel split his power and created two new dragons. The Gold dragon and Silver dragon, The Gold dragon is given the task to collect all 8 lustre and seal them so that Void fragments of power won't be misused and to prevent Void to be resurrected. While the Silver dragon carries the mission to protect the Monolith.

**IV. The Aftermath**

The Ancients populations are dwindling after the battle against the dragons. And when the corrupted ancients come back to their homeland, a civil war broke out thus severing the population once more. The survivor of that war disappeared.

With the Monolith shattered, not only that the dimensional balance of time and space is distorted. A lot of life forms and items began to take place in the gap of the connection world such as Fragment of dimensional gem, The dimensional key, Abyssal bunnies and also the existence of Abyssal realm which is being researched by humans known as Heraldry Scholars, while a group of maiden keeping Abyssal realm from fully entering Lagendia, The priestess of darkness.

The Abyssal realm is the manifestation of the fused world of Lagendia and Mistland. That mirror world is then connected to Lagendia with the remnants of Void power when he crossed the openings of the world. As the name tells, Abyssal realm created abyss space in a lot of place in Lagendia, evolving the creatures that lived there to become evil beast and monsters, carving for power and destruction.

The Monolith, on the other note, is a medium which connects Altea's power and Lagendia. With the Monolith Shattered, Altea can't fully control the peace and balance of the world. After the dragon's battle, Lagendia are severed with most of the land either destroyed or corrupted by Void or undead Tempest blood. But thanks to Sentinel fused power inside the Monolith, Lagendia slowly heals.

Without Altea's watching over, the human population starts to grow. The humans then sent out armies to explore Lagendia. They settled in a place and built their own kingdom at their very capital, Saint Haven.

-Being the direct descendants of the goddess altea, Elves, who are supposedly immortals, become mortals. But altea's blessings are still intact. Even in their mortal state, they age at a rather slow pace.

-Ancients are dragons' descendants, being a mortal with such power allowing them to live longer than ordinary human

**V. Humans, Magic, and Conflicts**

A few decades later, it is known that one of the Dragons lustre is discovered by a group of corrupted ancients. These ancients, still seeking destruction of the world, decided to create an artificial dragon out of that lustre. After a long time, they managed to create an artificial dragon. The Black Dragon of apocalypse, known as Karas. Due to the lustre power, the artificial dragon had the power of a pure dragon inside.

The newly created Karas then started to spread doom worldwide. Luckily, there's an ancient sage, Bishas Arnobius, traveling around the world. He will later fight and defeated Karas on his own, Forcing the black dragon to flee. Realizing that the world might fall into an even dire situation in the future, the sage then decided that he will look for apprentice, and teach them magic.

He then found 2 apprentices, Jacob & Marian, Teaching them magic as he knows it. His first apprentice is Jacob, to which he teach him about devine magic that comes directly from Altea and her blessing, associated with light elements. His second apprentice is Marian, he taught her about ancient magic, the magic to control and manipulate elements such as fire, ice, and darkness, as well as magic that doesn't carry an element or pure magic.

Not long after that, the sage passed away and his disciple continued on living. But Jacob & Marian didn't get along well. Persistent that their magic are the original and the right path of magical power of the world. This bad relation they both shared will be spread on as their teachings spread throughout the land.

They each established their own path of teachings, Marian became the founder of Fairystar, while Jacob created the Clerics Order. Under the guidance of first human magician, the human race rose in power, gaining the ability to manipulate elements and to display the might of Altea herself. But eventually, the sorceress of Fairystar and the clerics of the Clerics Order become at odds with each other and the long running conflict of the two sides carries on until the present.

**VI. The Great Dragon Raid and The Six Heroes**

50 years ago

The Black Dragon, Karas, returned and threatened Lagendia. This time, with the help of a former dark elf queen Elena, Karas raised an army consisted of a wide variety of monsters called the Red Army. Even humans are attracted by his power and became Karas followers who worked for the Black Dragon both openly and secretly, They're later known as Dragon Followers.

Gerraint the Gold Dragon, then sent out a call to arms to all of humanity. Gerraint led his own army against the Black Dragon and became the leader of the Six Heroes, which consisted of Velskud of Saint's Haven Royal Army, Barnac of the Free Adventurer's League, Karacule of the Dark Tower FairyStar Sorceresses, Nerwin of the Silver Crescent Archers, And Terramai of the Divine Knight.

Argenta, the Silver Dragon, was also involved in the war, though she refused to be grouped with them. She insisted that the combined power of Gerraint and her was enough to defeat the Black Dragon. She paid no attention to the 5 heroes and later helped to defend Saint Haven from the Red Army and Elena.

After a long and arduous war, the Six Heroes finally defeated the Black Dragon. But it was not without complications. Gerraint turned to his Gold Dragon form to duel the Black Dragon himself, and also lose his right eye. Barnac and Karacule felt betrayed at this revelation. After the Black Dragon was defeated, Velskud stole the Black Dragon Lustre. The other 5 heroes were too exhausted from the war and were unable to stop Velskud. Argenta and Gerraint fled the scene quickly afterwards.

The six heroes were horrified by Velskud betrayal, but they decided that it would be best to keep it a secret to avoid a huge uproar from the Saint Haven citizens and Royal family. Thus, history recorded the end of the war as the defeat of the Black Dragon due to the noble sacrifice of Velskud.

The blood that the Black Dragon shed created the catastrophic rain, covering the surrounding areas in a poisonous substance that not only killed its inhabitants, but also transformed them into undead.

Meanwhile, Karacule, Nerwin, Barnac, and the rest of the army during the Black Dragon Raid were also contaminated. Many more would perish under the illness caused by the catastrophic rain.

The remaining four heroes then headed to Riverwort Wharfs. By this time, Nerwin had already hastily left for Anu Arandiel, Hometown of the elves. After a short bid of farewells, Terramai returned to Saint Haven and became the pontiff of the Divine Knights. Karacule went back to Dark Tower to train new sorceress and retired to Riverwort Wharfs while seeking for a cure to her illness. And Barnac headed towards Tel Numera with the small party he created.


	2. Chapter I

**I. The start of our journey & bonds**

50 years after the Black Dragon Raid

**Chrona's P.O.V**

Somewhere on the outskirts of Prairie town

It was a nice sunny day, no clouds to be seen at the blue sky with the breeze blowing every now and then, keeping the air as cool as possible from the scorching heat.

Walking in the shade of the forest trees, a young elven archer is walking alone. Pacing back and forth, leaving a bee line trail every time she wanders even further in the woods. "Umm… Am I lost again? " She muttered to herself as she sweatdropped and looks left and right. The young elf then shrugged the thought aside and continues her walk, heading further inside the forest.

As she looks around for a way to exit the forest, she heard a scream & hastily head towards the source of the scream. When the young elf arrived a few seconds later, she saw a glimpse of a red haired young lady being kidnapped by an orc and a group of goblins.

She was ready to chase after the kidnappers, but halted when she noticed a little girl a few meters in front of her, lying on the ground and calling "Rose…" in between her sobs. What worries the elf isn't just the little girl helpless state, but the 6 goblins closing in to kill her.

She drew out her arrow and aimed at the approaching goblins, "Little girl, get down!" she shouted at the little girl as she shot her arrow right through a goblin eye, killing it instantly. '5 more to go'

She took out 2 more goblins by piercing through their eye or heart with arrows. But the other 3 goblins were now right in front of the little girl who passed out due to the shock and fear. 'At this rate, I won't make it. . .' she thought as she drew another arrow.

Suddenly a human boy ran ahead of her, standing in the gap between the goblins and the little girl.

**Gileon's P.O.V**

'I'm off on my journey to find him, but I don't even know where to start.' He thought as he scratched the back of his head. The young warrior then continued his walk down the small road beside a forest. He was walking peacefully towards prairie town, a small town not so far from his home. As he was enjoying the scenery along the roadside and everything nature has to offer, he heard a sudden cry, and a shout from somewhere near.

He ran down the road, heading to the source of the sound. The sight before him is dire, a little girl who passed out in the middle of the road, a group of goblins closing in to her, and a single elf trying to protect that little girl.

Without hesitation, He charged towards the goblin. Running past the elf and standing between the goblins and the girl. With a single swing of his giant battle axe, he managed to kill 2 of the goblins. He readied another swing towards the last goblin, when suddenly an arrow flew right through the goblin's eye.

After making sure that there are no more goblins or reinforcements, the young warrior checked on the little girl condition. "Passed out due to shock, poor girl" he muttered under his breath as he picked and carried the little girl on his back. The young elven archer were standing next to him "Thank you for your help" she thanked him. "She would have been killed if you hadn't come".

"It's fine. Let's get to the town, we need to find a doctor for her." he said when nudging his head towards the little girl he carried at his back. The young warrior and archer then continued their walk silently as they head for a small town down the forest.

When they reached the town, they were greeted by an old man who happens to be the mayor of the town. "Oh… Lily" He said when he saw her grand daughter state. "What happened? Where is Rose?" he asked the two in panic.

"We will tell you about it later. This girl condition is more important right now." the young warrior told him. They then headed to the mayor's house to take care of Lily, the little blonde girl. They called the town's doctor to tend to Lily's condition. After Lily is put to rest in her room, the three of them sat and talked in the living room.

"My name's Harold, I'm Rose & Lily's grandfather and also the mayor of this prairie town. Thank you for rescuing Lily. Will you tell me what happened, young travelers?" the mayor started, staring back and forth at the young warrior and the elven archer.

"I'm Gileon. I was walking along the road side to this town when I saw her fending off goblins that were going to attack Lily. After we killed those goblins, we take Lily back here." He explained to the mayor. "Then, what happened to Rose? Where is she?" The mayor asked them.

"Umm… I'm afraid that Rose has been kidnapped by another group of goblins and orc." The young elf started. "Ah, my name is Chrona. I was… taking a stroll inside the forest when I heard Lily-chan & Rose-san scream. But when I arrived, they already caught Rose-san and fled." She explained to the mayor. 'If only I arrived earlier…' She thought to herself.

"Oh…Rose, I was afraid that today would come eventually." Harold said. "What do you mean, Harold-san?" Chrona asked him. "Rose's mother is a descendant of the Ancient. She fled here to hide from someone and lived in this small town ever since. She then married my son, and gave birth to Rose and Lily." He explained. After a pause, he continued "Both of them passed away when Rose and Lily was very young, so I've been taking care of them. Rose has the power to foresaw prophecy through her dreams since she was young, her mother for saw that because she believed that Rose will be the prophet who would decide the future of the world. And I'm sure the monsters kidnapped her to make use of that power" he said, feeling guilty and worried.

"Anyway, we have to go and save her immediately" The mayor said as he stood up. "We will help you" Gileon said, he then looked at Chrona who nodded in response. The three of them then proceeded to head to the training grounds.

"We don't have any army as this is only a small town, but hopefully we can rescue Rose with everyone's help." The mayor mumbled to no one in particular. They then arrived at the training grounds where a few people are training with pikes. They meet the voluntary group leader, Steve, to ask for his and everyone's help. He then proceeded to introduce Chrona and Gileon, as well as explaining the situation.

"We will send all our scouts to looks for any unusual behavior inside the forest, when we find something, we will report to you and move to rescue Rose, Mr. Mayor." Steve said, giving a slight relieve to the mayor. "I'll look for any hints of their hideout as well." Gileon said. The mayor thanked them and left to take care of Lily.

**Chrona's P.O.V**

The sun was beginning to set down and disappeared in the horizon, the sky is painted in a bright orange with a hint of purple. The once hot and humid weather started to cool down as breeze blows every now and then. Chrona is sitting in the branch of a big tree in the middle of the town, when a glimpse of silhouette of a man near the town entrance, quite far from her spot, peaks her interest.

In front of the town arc entrance, stood a lone warrior, checking on his gears & equipment before heading out to patrol the nearby forest for clues. The young archer then approached him slowly as to not bother him with her presence.

"Are you really going to search for Rose-san?" Chrona asked him a bit timidly, which he answered with a nod. "Why? You haven't even seen her nor do you know her." She asked again, pure curiosity in her tone. "The same reason you saved Lily earlier" He answered simply while smiling at her. 'I saved Lily because she saved me from that labyrinth called a forest with her scream, could it be…? He was lost in the forest as well?!'

She thought to herself about it until steam began to escape from her ears. She then shakes her head and push the thought aside. "But… don't you have another thing to attend to, Gileon?" She asked him once again.

Gileon takes a deep breath, which he then breathes out slowly. He seems to be reminiscing something before he starts "I'm looking for my father, but I'm sure that I won't find him that easily. Going on an adventure around the world is the only thing I can do to find clues of his where abouts..."

"But those can wait. So, are you coming with me, Chrona?" He asked her, evident determination in his eyes.

"Of course~!" she said to him. 'So this is what they call as bonds. Interesting~' she thought to herself.

Chrona then followed behind Gileon as he left the town and the both of them head towards the forest under the darkening starry sky.


	3. Chapter II

**Disclaimer : I do not own Dragon nest. Just this fic and a main Character.**

**II. The Search for the Ancient Flower**

-Wind forest border-

"Still no clue?" Gileon asked Chrona as he search around, "I'm afraid so" She replied softly. They've been spending a good 4 hours searching around the forest for any hints of Rose's whereabouts. Along the way, they had encountered and killed quite a number of goblins and orcs, but still no sighting of anything that might help with their search.

After a short walk to the center of the forest, they saw an enormously large tree. And since its getting dark, they decided to call off the search for tonight and rest. "This part of the forest is a calm and monster free region, we can camp here for the night" Chrona said. "Sounds good to me" Gileon answered her while taking spot to sit on the ground, resting his back against the tree. Chrona on the other hand, jumped to the low branch of the tree and sit there.

They were staring at the night sky silently, minding their own business, until Gileon looked up to where Chrona was sitting. "Ne, Chrona..." He started, a bit concerned about calling her so friendly. Girls, be it Human, Elves, or even Monsters, hates 'acting too friendly' guys. "Hmm~?" she replied as she turned to see Gileon from her sitting spot. "What are you doing here?" which confused her as she replied with "What do you mean~?" Gileon then continued "I mean your goal, or something like that. It's quite rare to see elves traveling alone. What more, around Prairie town."

Chrona then hopped down from the branch, her bow at hand, and sat next to Gileon. "I'm a member of the Silver Crescent Archer back in my country, Anu Arandel." She started as she strings her bow. "We elves are looking for our Telezia, or in human language, our fate." She said. "So right now, I'm searching my Telezia. Perhaps this journey is part of it~" She explained and smiled at him.

Gileon blushed a bit at her smile; he then replied "It must be very important for you, to look for your Telezia. But some humans believed that fate depends on you yourself and will come by itself eventually". She smiled at that with a slight "Unn~" in reply.

'It's quite cold, I'll make some fire' Gileon thought to himself when a cold night wind blows past him, he then stood up and started picking up some old branches. Chrona noticed this and helped him by collecting withered leaves and some rocks to make the fire. After they're done in creating the fire, they went back to their original spot, Gileon on the ground near the fire for warmth, and Chrona at the tree branch, stringing her bows again.

"Aren't you cold, Chrona?" Gileon asked her, looking up to see a glimpse of her long hair swayed by the cold night breeze. "A little bit. But it's fine, I like cold temperatures~" she answered him. He just shrugged off and let sleep take over him. Chrona went to sleep a little later after she's done with her bow

The dawn had come, they sky is lit a bit although no sun could be seen rising up from the horizon. But Chrona is already wide awake. She jumped down to see Gileon still sleeping soundly and smiled at the sight. 'I really can't imagine him being the super strong warrior he is when he's sleeping like that' she thought to herself. She then proceeded to head into the woods to look for breakfast.

When morning comes, Gileon slowly wakes up from his position and stretch his body. He looked up to the branch of the tree to notice that Chrona is missing but her bag is still sitting next to his. "Morning just came and she's already gone somewhere?" He mumbled to himself. Gileon then waited for her return by sharpening his axe blade, do some morning exercise, and train his swings with his axe.

'It's been an hour, Where is she?' he thought as he packed up his belongings and ready to head out to search for a waterfall to bathe himself, he might be a guy but hygiene is important for him too you know. "Chrona! Where are you?" His shouts echoed throughout the woods, he's starting to get queasy about waiting too long. Suddenly, a bush ruffles for a few seconds. Gileon's ready with his axe already to welcome any hostility or threat that might came out.

"Oh, Gileon. Ready to head out already?" Chrona said as she walked past the bushes and towards him. "I went to pick these earlier" She showed him a bag made out of a giant leaves with a bunch of fruits, berries, and nuts inside it.

"Thanks for looking for breakfast, what took you so long?" He asked her curiously. "Umm… that's…" she trailed off. "Could it be… you got lost in the woods?" Gileon asked again, a bit unsurely this time. "N-no… of course not… there's no way I would get lost in the forest. Ahaha…" She laughed off nervously. He just shrugged and had breakfast with her.

After breakfast, Gileon then finished his preparation to head out. Chrona also quickly prepared herself with her bow and quiver. When everything is settled, they head out once again, Chrona following Gileon as he lead the way.

"We'll search for Rose until noon, if we can't find any clue about her, let's head back to Prairie town" he started, looking over his shoulder to see her.

"That means we are going to head deeper into wind forest?"

"Yeah, around that temple ruins. But I'm gonna look for a river or creek around here first."

"There's a creek just outside this forest, I took a bath there earlier~" She told him plainly.

Suddenly a nosebleed struck Gileon, Chrona quickly got to him. "Are you alright Gileon?" she asked him, worried and a bit confused. "Y-yeah, I'm alright. So, where is this river, Chrona?" Gileon asked after wiping away his nosebleed. "Hmm…" Chrona then closed her eyes, focusing on her ears to catch the sound of flowing water. "This way~" She told him as she leaded the way to the river.

They walk for quite a while before arriving at the river. As Gileon put his bag wunder a tree, Chrona jumped off to that tree branch and sharpen her arrows. 'She can hear the sound of water from that far away?' he thought as he looked at her, she remarked his stare and smiled back which caused the warrior to blush. Gileon then proceeded to take a bath, while Chrona was taking a nap on the tree branch.

* * *

They continued their search afterwards. Encountering more orcs and goblins this time around wind forest, temple ruins area. Gileon will knock up the goblins or the orcs shield with his axe or punch while Chrona provided support by shooting the monsters with arrows or just simply kick them if they approached her. Their good teamwork makes their journey to look for clues become easier.

"Look Gileon" Chrona called out to him after they defeated the last orc. "A map piece to their camp" She ruled out as she studied the map. "But where is this place?" Gileon pointed out, the map is quite ragged and provide minimum hint for their search. "I guess we just have to look for more maps then~" She replied.

After another short walk, they encountered two weird devices. "What's this thing?" Gileon questioned. "I don't know, maybe the goblins are doing experiments?" Chrona continued. The first one is a small wooden tower with a cauldron under it. The second device is a similar one with the first, but instead a cauldron, a stone bed with ropes consisted under it. And the tower had some sort of a drilling device on top of it. The both of them then continued their walk towards the old abandoned temple.

When they're inside the temple ruins, they were ambushed by goblins. "Out of the way" Gileon shouted as he charged at them. But suddenly, the goblins ran scrambling about and escaped from Gileon. "What's with them?" Gileon thought out loud, "Maybe they need to go to the bathroom?" Chrona replied. And right then, a shocking step echoed the ground and a roar resonated around the temple's hall. They rushed to the hall, and found- what-seemed-like-a-bulked-goblin charging towards their way.

"What the heck is that?" Gileon questioned Chrona as they evaded the upcoming goblin. "Perhaps they really are conducting experiments." Chrona answered. "Go look for the source, I'll try and keep it occupied here. If they were going to send reinforcements, we'll be in trouble." Gileon suggested as he stopped and faced the goblin. She just nodded and left hastily, heading deeper into the back hall of the temple.

"How on Lagendia could a goblin get so big? They're usually just around the height of my forearm and now they're bigger than me?" Gileon said quietly as he got ready for a battle. The giant goblin is now charging towards him, with an old sword at hand. 'Orcish curve sword? This gonna be a pain.' The goblin keeps on charging blindly at Gileon, trying to thrust and slash him. 'So it's not just big but also fast.' He noticed as he dodged the attacks and studying said goblin.

Gileon and that goblin exchanged blows for quite a while, Gileon was able to guard from the goblin's attacks using his gauntlet, and the goblin were damaged quite heavily form his axe. 'They're faster, stronger, can take hits quite well too. But had poor balance and slow on the uptake. I guess this is still a goblin at the core.' He thought. He then delivered a final blow on the goblin using his fist.

When he punched the goblin right on its head, he noticed something was grazing against his gauntlet. He then studied the defeated goblin and found something. A pentagon shaped jewel poking out the goblin's forehead. "Why would there be a jewel sticking out from a goblin's skull?" He then pulled out the jewel, "Pointy at the other edge? Did they impale their skull with this stuff?" A series of questions began to flood his mind as he run to catch up with Chrona.

**A/N : Well, Chrollo here and there you have it, Chapter 2. I hope the explanation make sense, English is not my first language so please bear with grammatical errors. I hope you enjoyed that, and give me some reviews or pointers for writing if you would, I'd really appreciate it ! ^^**


	4. Chapter III

**III. Setting out, once again**

'There's definitely an unusual sound coming from there' Chrona remarked, heading at the sound's direction to find its origin. She ran through the temple corridors, jumping pass at any obstacle in the way. After a while, she arrived at an entrance to a room. Before entering, she hid near the entrance, trying to stay undetected as she sneak a quick peek inside the room.

The goblins were preparing something, some sort of surgery. The two device from earlier can be found in here as well. A goblin is standing at the top of the tower, cooking and mixing a dark purple concoction in a cauldron. Another goblin can be seen taking that liquid mixture and fusing it with an ordinary jewel.

But what horrifies Chrona isn't the fact that goblins had managed to create a weird jewel, but for what and how they use it. The drilling device had another goblin on top of the tower, operating the machine. But under it, a goblin is tied down to the stone bed and was struggling, as if wanting to run away.

With the jewel from earlier as the drill head, the machine starts to rumble and spin its drill towards the tied down goblin. The jewel impaled the goblin's head and was drilled to fit its skull. The tied down goblin was screaming in pain, but suddenly stopped moving and screaming. 'They killed their own kind?' she thought, but right at that moment, the goblin suddenly started moving again.

The goblin is now bigger, just like the one she encountered with Gileon down the hall. 'That explains a lot. But why the upper torso, head and arms were the only parts getting bigger?' she questioned in her mind. A few more goblins undergo that surgery and were turned into bigger goblins. "This shouldn't be hard~" she muttered to herself, a grin spreading across her face.

She then ran and jumped to place herself perfectly in the middle of the room. The small group of enhanced goblins quickly charged towards her, but Chrona quickly tumbled backwards and evaded the oncoming goblins. She swiftly dispatched the goblins who were working on the devices using her arrows, she also kicked the device foundation to destroy it instantly as she run and tumbled around the room.

'That's taken care of. If they were to make more jewels and goblins, I'd be in trouble." She thought out loud. "Now… taking care of the rest~" a smirk shown on her face, she then gracefully landed in front of the crowding giant goblins. "_Willow Kick_!" Chrona muttered as she got on an upside down split position and start spinning her body using her hands, kicking the goblins 7 times and finished by pushing her body using her hands and kicking upwards.

The goblins were quite damaged by her attack; two of them were lying on the ground due to the shock from her last upper kick, but the last one managed to remain standing, a bit dizzy and stunned. Chrona took the opportunity and does a sault kick at the standing goblin, knocking it up in the air. She finished with a shot piercing through its eye.

The other two goblins were up on their feet and ready for another charge at Chrona, but suddenly were thrown forward by a mysterious wave from behind them. "Chrona! Are you all right?" Gileon shout echoed the room, "Oh, Gileon~" Chrona greeted cheerfully as she executed the last two goblins the same way as the first, an arrow through their eyes.

"I've just finished down here." She told him, "Thanks for the hard work. Are you hurt?" Gileon asked her. She just shakes her head "I'm perfectly fine. But Gileon, your gauntlet…" she trailed off as she averted her eyes down to his hands. "Just a few scratches, I'll get it fixed later." Gileon said; raising his hand up to show her his gloves are fine.

He then studied their surroundings, broken devices, wooden tower remains in the room, as well as goblins dead body lying here and there. 'She did all this on her own.' He thought as his eyes finished scanning around the room and reverted back to her, she just smiled at him.

"We need to inform Steve-san about this…" Gileon suggested which Chrona simply nodded in agreement at that. "I've found more maps piece but this is still hard to read. Can we go and search for this place a bit longer?" She asked him. "Sure, it'll still take a few hours before noon after all. And maybe we can find more clues." He replied. The both of them then exited the Temple ruins area.

After searching for a while, Chrona looked up and noticed the sun is almost up on its highest point. "It'll be noon soon. Gileon, Let's head back to Prairie town." Chrona suggested. "Yeah, maybe the scouts had returned with some clues." He answered her. The both of them then head back to Prairie town, Gileon leading the way.

"We should inform them about the experiments and the bigger goblins." Chrona said as they walked across the forest. "Yeah, those would really be a problem if we don't take care of it somehow." Gileon replied as he led the way. The both of them then started to quicken their steps, and in the end, Gileon started to run while Chrona would follow him by tumbling and jumping across tree branches.

Chrona and Gileon had just arrived at Prairie town. "Gileon, go get your gears fixed at the blacksmith. I'll find Steve-san and report about the stuffs from earlier, and this map." Chrona told him, shaking the rolled maps piece on her hands. She then left before Gileon had the chance to give her a reply. "To the blacksmith it is then." He muttered weakly and head to the blacksmith.

Chrona arrived at the training grounds soon after she left Gileon. She found Steve and reported to him about the goblins and their experiments. She then showed him the maps she acquired and asks his opinion about it. "This place looks like the Catacombs area, outside the wind forest. But that area had been abandoned for a long time. No one even bothered to scout there." He said, a bit skeptical.

Chrona was about to ask further about Catacombs, when suddenly a militia appeared behind her, out of breath and exhausted. It seemed as if the man had run here from the forest after seeing a monster.

'That startled me, suddenly showing up from behind me.' Chrona thought to herself

"S…Steve-san… we got… a report… from Timothy… he saw the monsters… around Catacombs..." he said as he gasped for air. Steve seemed concerned about that report and is thinking deeply.

"I will go." Chrona said. "Will you be alright, Chrona-kun? It's quite dangerous out there." Steve said hesitantly. "I'll go as well." Gileon told him as he showed up from behind Chrona, which caused her to jolt in surprise.

'What's with people and suddenly showing up behind me? Geez.' She thought again.

Steve seems to be a bit concerned about it but agreed in the end. He then instructed them to head to the western outskirts of wind forest, outside temple ruins area. "Our scout's probably still in the scene, hopefully we can save Rose soon. Be careful, both of you". The both of them just nodded and left immediately.


	5. Chapter IV

**IV. Almost Rescued?**

Gileon and Chrona had just exited at the western region of wind forest on the afternoon, a bit out of breath as they rushed their journey.

They managed to cross the forest without any trouble at all as they had cleared the center and border area earlier, but as they got closer to the forest outskirts, more monsters can be found patrolling around the region.

As they killed more monsters, mostly goblins, orcs and wild hounds, they also investigated for any clues of the scout tracks. Chrona did most of the tracking and clue searching part from the trees, while Gileon would clear the way and scan from the ground.

They then found Timothy, the scout who had seen Rose, but he didn't notice Chrona and Gileon coming from behind him as he keeps trembling on his squatting spot behind a bush. 'It's not that cold, why does he shiver like that?' Chrona thought when she saw Timothy.

Gileon then approached Timothy and tapped his shoulder lightly, which managed to almost knock Timothy out from the shock nonetheless. He held back his scream and turn around to see Gileon and Chrona staring at him. "I-i-i-i-I thought you guys are m-m-monsters who came to k-k-kill me." Timothy said, a bit out of breath. "Sorry for startling you." Gileon said apologetically, "I-it's fine. I-I'm glad that you're h-h-here." Timothy said.

After introducing himself and explaining the situation to Gileon and Chrona, he then proceeded to lead the way towards an old monastery building, further to the west.

It was another breath taking walk as they need to go up and down a few small hills and stay undetected by the patrolling monsters. When they arrived near an old monastery building, Timothy stopped. "R-r-r-Rose is being held captive i-inside this building, the C-c-c-catacombs." He told them "I-i-I am afraid of the m-m-monsters so I'll j-just wait, h-here." He added as he squatted and hide behind a bush.

"Timothy, be ready to save Rose when you see an opening." Gileon told Timothy before he left, he didn't answer though. Chrona and Gileon then proceeded to snuck around without being noticed by the patrolling goblins, hiding behind the shades of trees and bushes. When they're close enough, Chrona jumped on a tree branch to get a better view.

After scouting from high up at the tree, she got back down to tell Gileon and reported what she saw through a few holes and Catacombs main entrance. "I spotted a couple of goblins guarding outside with an orc. But the room goes further inside." She reported.

Gileon just looked at the entrance and narrowed his eyes. 'It's quite dark and she can see so well' he thought, "Let's just head there and save her." Gileon suggested as he stands from his squatting spot. "Unn~ but let's wait until they lit up the flames inside the building. It'll be troublesome to fight in the dark.' She added, reaching for his arms. Gileon just nodded and waits with her.

They waited for quite a while, Gileon is getting impatient by the minute as an hour had passed and no light were to be seen radiating from the building. When he's about to burst from his impatience, a glow can be seen radiating from inside the building. Some monsters guarding the place had begun flaming the torches for light.

The both of them swiftly snuck inside and killed the monsters guarding the entrance almost immediately after the torch was lit. Nodding at each other, they hastily entered Catacombs and dispatched any monsters they encountered.

They found Rose not long after they entered, in a room quite deep inside the Catacombs. The room was well maintained and is dimly lighted. The walls are fine with a few wood patches here and there, the roof ceramic mirrors are still intact despite a few holes and cracks can be seen, giving a way for the moon light to shine around the room. The room was also spacious filled with old bookshelves and drawers, covered in dust.

When Gileon and Chrona were heading to pick Rose from her lying spot, a roar can be heard. Echoed across the room from the back, the young warrior and elf quickly averted their eyes to look for the sound's origin. And there it was… standing on its feet, enraged and snorted angrily, with a giant axe (a tad bit bigger and longer than Gileon's) on its hand. It roared once more as if to mark his entrance.

"A Minotaur…" Gileon mumbled his eyes still quite wide from looking at the giant, bull-like, monster. "Get ready Chrona, that thing is quite sturdy and would be hard to deal with." Gileon told her as he stepped forward and readied himself for whatever is to come. Chrona drew her arrows and aimed at the Minotaur as it charged towards them, echoing the ground with every step it takes.

Gileon immediately took a stance and readied his axe, "_Impact Wave_!" Gileon shouted as he swept the ground using his axe, creating a bow shaped wave & staggering the upcoming Minotaur. "_Multi shot_!" Chrona shot 7 arrows at the same time, some of the arrows were blocked by the Minotaur's axe but the rest managed to pierce through its flesh, "_Twin arrows_!" she shouted again, shooting two continuous arrows at the Minotaur's leg.

Their combined attacks manage to push back the Minotaur, giving the bull no time to counter their continuous attack. Chrona would provide support to Gileon from behind as he dealt with the Minotaur's giant axe. Though the Minotaur didn't give up as it swung its giant axe a few times, charged at them with it's shoulders or even delivered a direct punch at them.

As it took more and more damage, the Minotaur got enraged and charged blindly at them. Swinging its axe wildly, Gileon dashed and swing his axe to knock the Minotaur axe upwards. Chrona then jumped to the front of the Minotaur, got on her hands, spin her body and legs to kick the Minotaur's gut 7 times and by pushing her body upwards using her hands, she delivered a hard kick at the minotaur's chin.

After taking Chrona's kicks, the Minotaur roared, pushing her back just by its mere force. Chrona quickly gained composure, tumbling backwards hastily and got back on her feet. Gileon lose no time in attacking, slashing upwards using his axe to drive the Minotaur back. While the giant bull was stunned Gileon jumped, "_Circle Break_!" he slammed his axe downwards, killing the Minotaur.

After that small battle, the both of them were exhausted. Gileon took most of the hits and blocking the Minotaur's axe were bruised quite heavily while Chrona just got a few cuts and bruise around her arm. They sat on one of the bookshelves that got knocked down during the battle.

While catching his breath, Gileon studied their surroundings. "Chrona..." Gileon said in between his panting. "Hmm?" she replied shortly. "Where's Rose?" Gileon asked her, A bit panicked since the person they searched for is nowhere to be seen. "Ah, you see~ earlier, when we were keeping that bull busy, Timothy came and rescued Rose. But he runs away right after that." Chrona explained airily.

"We need to look for them then." Gileon said as he stands up, he then offered a hand to help Chrona to stand as well. "Let's look for them at the town first. Maybe they're back already." She suggested as she accepted the hand and stand up.

It was already late at night when they arrived at the town. Late night Prairie town is mesmerizing; lamp posts with candle inside it illuminating the town and its stone steps road can be seen in every corner, a few fire flies glowing near the giant tree at the center of the town, and the bright cloudless sky filled with stars spreading across the sky.

The both of them passed the sleeping town quietly as they head for Steve's hut, the militia leader's work place and sometimes his room. When they reached their destination, they saw a light coming from the said hut, meaning that Steve is still awake.

"Steve-san, are you there?" Gileon shouted at the hut entrance.

"Don't be so loud, Gileon~" Chrona whispered to him slowly.

"Ah, right. Sorry." He replied in a whisper.

"Is that you, Gileon, Chrona? Come on in." a sound can be heard from inside.

The two of them entered the hut slowly. Steve was sitting on his small desk, writing some report and studying maps. After a moment, Steve stopped his writing "So, what is it guys?" he asked. "That reminds me, Where's Timothy? And Rose, how is she?" he questioned again.

"Well, that's what we're here to ask you, Steve-san." Gileon started. "What do you mean?" He asked again, clearly confused. Gileon then told him about what had happened at Catacombs, killing Minotaur and about Timothy had rescued Rose in the midst of battle. "I thought he had come back here with Rose." Gileon finished his explanation. "If he's back, he would have come here and reported to me." Steve replied, studying a map on his hand as he's thinking about something.

"Where could he have gone to? With an unconscious Rose-san, it'll be a problem if he were to get ambushed by monsters." Gileon asked. 'Could it be… he got lost in the woods?' Chrona thought to herself. "It was dark, so he's probably wandering aimlessly in the forest. He might do that if he panicked out too much." Steve informed them.

"Would you please search around the ancient temple excavation site? It's not far to the north from temple ruins and is quite close to Catacombs too, he might run off there." He pointed a part of the map with his ink pen. Gileon and Chrona then looked at the map and memorized it. After that, the both of them excused themselves to find Rose and Timothy.

**A/N : Hi there, Chrollo here ^^ Thank's for all the readers who'd been reading this story, I hope you enjoyed the story so far. and thank's to all the reviewers as well~ I'm sorry (again) about grammatical errors (I think I would need someone to proofread this for me to avoid further grammatical errors.)**

**to Nekochan : I'm trying my best in studying the game's main quest and story line so everyone could read this and enjoy the story, even if they're a non-dragon nest player. ^^ and thank you for the advice you gave me, I'll try my best to be a better writer**

**to Non and guest : well, I too admire the swordmasters, but I already had plans for Gileon (. really sorry about that, I hope you don't mind.) but I do have a plan for a swordmaster to make his debut soon~ hopefully you'll enjoy that.. ^^/**

**Oh yeah, Reviews are always welcome ! That's all for now~ See ya on the next Author Note~**


	6. Chapter V

******A/N : Yo! Chrollo here~ *\^^/* an update heree~ huraaahh~ Hope you enjoyed the story so far, and please leave a review ! I want to know about how you think of this story~ ^^ and now without further a do, here you go~**

* * *

**V. The long search and a slipped grasp**

They rushed their way through the forest at night. Only a few monsters patrolling the perimeter made their job easier in defeating them and proceeding to the Temple ruins. The dark forest makes it harder to see, but Gileon vaguely remembered the way to the ruins.

When they reached the ruins, they were greeted with by a small party of orcs, which they killed with ease. Fighting in the dark greatly put the orcs at a disadvantage, but since Chrona can see well even in the dark, she coordinated Gileon movements and succeeded in killing the orcs.

The journey towards the excavation site is a harsh one. Despite the fact that Chrona and Gileon hadn't encountered any monster, the dark forest roads makes it harder for them to find the site. And because they keep running through thorny bushes when Gileon is on the lead (He even got his head smacked to a tree once.), Chrona led the way.

"Chrona, are you sure this is the right way?" Gileon asked her. "U-unn~" She nodded nervously as she led the way through the forest. "I can't see that well, but I think we've been circling around for a few moments around here." He continued. "A-ah, you think so?" She asked and laughed it off nervously.

Gileon just sweat dropped and sighed. "Let's head back to temple ruins first and start tracing our steps from there." He suggested. Chrona nodded and lead the way back to the temple, but sadly, the both of them got lost again a couple of times. It took them around 45 minutes circling around the forest since they first left the temple and to only got back at the place where they started.

"Alright, let's head out again. We need to go east until we find a rather tall sola tree, from there, we'll head further to the south, down a hill, and we're there." Gileon explained. "Unn…" Chrona replied weakly, the both of them then sets out once more.

"Sorry for getting us lost in the forest, Gileon." Chrona started apologetically "It's fine." He replied. "You're not so good with directions huh…" he added while smirking at her. She startled at that statement and puffed her cheeks "You don't need to point that out, you know~" Gileon just laughed a bit which she returned with a simple cute hum.

"This is the sola tree, Gileon." She informed him as she pointed at a tree next to her. "Let's head south from here." He then gestured to Chrona for her to lead the way again. The proceeded smoothly and had just passed the hill when they see a flick of light from quite a far. The excavation site is in sight.

* * *

They rushed and arrived around the site in no time. When they were close enough, Chrona went and jumped to a tree to inspect the area inside. The excavation site were surrounded by low wood poles and consisted of a large grassy field and a small cave at the end of it. After she's done studying everything inside, she got down from the tree.

"Timothy-san is tied down to a pole, Rose-san too, but she's unconscious. With half a dozen of goblins, as well as some orcs watching over her is all I can see from the tree. But I fear there might be a goblin mage in there as well." Chrona explained.

'If it's just orcs and goblins, we might be able to manage somehow. But the mage would be such a pain to deal with.' Gileon thought. "Chrona, we'll barge in to their camp. I'll distract the goblins and orcs so you can focus on taking out the mage." Gileon told her. She smiled and nodded in response. They then got ready, take their position to barge in and put their plan on motion.

"Haaaaa…" Gileon screamed all the way as he runs towards the monsters gathering inside their camp. He then runs around the camp to distract the monsters into chasing him which worked perfectly and killed any monsters that got too close.

He then saw a bunch of ice shards thrown to his direction from the corner of his eye as he ran and jumped to avoid those ice shards. A goblin mage was standing in the center of the camp and is focusing his magic to shot some more ice shards towards Gileon.

But when the goblin was too busy focusing his magic, Chrona came and shoot his wrists. She then tumbled and stopped right in front of the mage, giving the mage no time to react; she got down on her hands and turned her body around as she spread her legs, kicking the mage in the process.

After 7 round-house kicks, she finished with kicking the mage upwards, throwing him in the air. The half-conscious mage landed harshly and was lying on the ground helplessly when Chrona's arrow pierced through his eyes and heart.

Quickly afterwards, Chrona shot an arrow form her spot at the rope binding Timothy, freeing him at once. The newly freed Timothy fell on his knees and was trying to even his breath, lifting his head to see Chrona still looking at him with worry in her eyes from afar. "Help Rose-san!" she shouted at him.

"Run!" Gileon said while suddenly running past her. Chrona began to run behind Gileon reflexively. "What are we running from again~?" Chrona asked Gileon as they run. "Those!" Gileon exclaimed as he points back with his thumb towards their chaser "Ah… monsters huh~" She replied plainly.

The monsters were exhausted after running around and slowed down eventually. Chrona who stopped just a few meters in front of the monsters began to shoot them with her arrows. Gileon took this opportunity to finish them with his axe "_Circle Break_!" He shouted as he jumped, he then slammed his axe to the ground with a great force.

They finished off the monsters one after another, Gileon taking the front while Chrona backing him up. The goblins were easier to deal with, but they need to put more effort in fighting the orcs, especially with their clubbed rod and wooden shield. A few orcs also approached Chrona and attacked her, but she managed to fend them off after sometime by kicking their chin or chest.

As this happened, Timothy unbind Rose from the pole and were prepared to head back to Prairie town. He carried Rose and dragged his feet out of the battle field. He was getting closer to the exit gate with each small step he took, but he slowed down gradually as he approached the gate.

A group of three harpies descend from the sky, blocking the path to the exit in front of Timothy. Timothy was scarred due to the intimidating presence and began to run in panic. The three harpies quickly drawn their weapon, a tri bladed throwing knifes, and throws it at his direction. Timothy, despite his fear, reacted. He pushed Rose, whom he carried next to him, aside and blocked the knife thrown at them

All three knives pierced him, not at any vital point, but still proofs to be fatal. He coughed up blood and looked at Gileon and Chrona's direction, "Get…Rose…" He asked them weakly. The both of them had just finished the last of the orcs and were rushing to Timothy's side, but they were too late.

The harpies had already snatched Rose and flew away. Chrona tried to shoot them down, but the harpies deflected her arrows by creating small whirlwinds using their wings and fled the scene. Gileon kneeled and took Timothy on his hand to check on him. "Oi Timothy, oi! Don't die on me now! You're stronger than this." He shouted at him. "I'll…leave…Rose…to you..." Timothy said weakly, he then coughed up more blood and drew his last breath.

As the harpies fly away, Chrona and Gileon can only watch helplessly. Chrona fell to her knees, "We've got her… We've got her and all we have to do is to bring her back home…" She muttered under her breath. Gileon just remained at his spot with a grim expression, kneeling with Timothy rested on his hand, his eyes covered with his bangs.

"Let's go back, Chrona. We need to report this and start looking for her again." Gileon said weakly. "We'll find her soon, and bring her back home." He added, trying to reassure her. She only nodded at him, giving a smile, but with sadness hinted in her eyes.

"We need to bring Timothy too." He said weakly. Gileon and Chrona then took care of Timothy lifeless and blood covered body Chrona took out the blade that stuck on Timothy's body slowly, cleaned the blood covering his body using all the water she had with her, and patched up his wounds using ragged clothes and some leafs. She then helped positioned the body on Gileon's back and under the dark cloudy sky, they began their walk back to Prairie town.

'It's my fault. If only I were faster, Timothy-san wouldn't…' Chrona thought to herself as they walk, guilt radiating from her eyes and reflected on her face when she heard Gileon whispered. "We need to get stronger." Gileon then grips tighter to Timothy's body he carried. They continued their walk back to the town silently under the dark cloudy sky.


	7. Chapter VI

**VI. A small breather**

Back at Prairie town, A few people gathered in front of the town's entrance. As they saw Gileon and Chrona's silhouette coming from the forest, they all hoped that the pair managed to bring Rose back home. But as the lamp posts light slowly revealed Chrona and Gileon's expression, their excitement and expectations dissolved slowly. They also saw an unconscious Timothy being carried by Gileon on his back.

"Are you two alright? What happened? Where is Rose?" Steve asked the pair as they arrived at the gate. "Yeah, we're alright." Gileon replied. "But Timothy-san is…" Chrona trailed off as everyone averted their eyes to the body on Gileon's back. Steve closed in to check on Timothy, when he realized that Timothy had died, he ordered most of the people to prepare a burial ceremony for Timothy immediately.

Gileon and Chrona just stood there on the town's entrance as people take Timothy's body to be buried. They're quite exhausted and still feeling guilty of what had happened to both Timothy and Rose. "It's not your fault, Chrona-kun, Gileon-kun." Steve told them after most of the people had left, leaving the three of them all alone. He then continued "I'm glad because at least both of you are fine. Fill me the details later when you're filling up to it. For now, rest your body. I'll get a place for both of you to stay tonight."

They were stuck in an uncomfortable silence for a while until Steve began to lead them towards the town's inn. "Can we drop by the mayor's place for a bit? I think we need to tell him about what happened." Gileon suggested in a low tone. Steve nodded then led the way to Mayor Harold's house.

When they arrived, the mayor was pacing back and forth in front of his house. He noticed the three and invited them to his house to talk, mostly reporting about what had happened in the woods.

After the explanation finished (Gileon doing most of the talk since Chrona is still a bit shaken) the mayor slumped on his chair. "Not only Rose was kidnapped again, and we lost Timothy as well." He said after a sigh. The room was silent for a while after that, until the mayor spoke "You young travelers must be tired after what happened today, go and get some rest. Thank you for your hard work." Steve, Chrona and Gileon then excused themselves from the mayor's house.

Steve then led the two towards the town's only inn and took care of the accommodation. "You two are welcomed to stay for as long as you wish." He said as he handed a key to each of them. "Now get your rest, you earned it." He added. Steve excused himself and was about to leave when Gileon asked him "We'll continue to search for Rose, right?" "Of course." Steve simply answered him. Steve then left them to rest for the night.

"Good night, Gileon" Chrona said "Yeah, Night." The both of them then retreated to their own room.

The room had a very homey and comfortable feeling to it. Tough it's a small inn at a small town, the interior of the room are very decent, clean, and neat. It's pretty spacious too. On the left corner of the room they had a single bed, a night stand with a lamp next to it, a desk with a wooden chair on the other corner, a small drawer, and a tea table with a few cushions to sit on the middle of the room. The door next to the entrance door on the left side leads to a decent sized bathroom.

* * *

**Gileon's P.O.V**

The moment Gileon entered his room, he dropped his bag, put off his gloves and lean his giant axe near the night stand. He then got down on the floor, finished two hundred push-ups and a hundred sit ups before he went to the bathroom for a quick and thorough shower. After shower, he sat on the bed with only a towel covering his lower half and started thinking about what had happened.

Starting his journey to search for his father, helping Chrona in protecting Lily, become friends with Chrona in a flash, going on an adventure to save Rose, a prophet and an ancient descendant. Only a few days had passed since he left his home and started walking the path to be the greatest warrior ever and so much had already happened. He smiled to himself mentally.

Today's event began to rewind on his mind. 'A lot really had happened today. Waking up in the forests, searching Rose with Chrona, fighting experimental goblins, minotaur, and a bunch of other monsters' he thought. 'I need to get stronger. If I wanted to find him I have to be.'

He then pulled out a change of clothes to wear. After sharpening the blades of his axe, he turned off the lamp and off to bed.

* * *

** Chrona's P.O.V**

After closing her door, Chrona put her bow and bag on the table while her mittens and quivers, which hold her arrows, are rested in the night stand. She took out a change of clothes for the night and headed to the bathroom.

She began to reminiscence the event from earlier as she took her bath. The sight of harpies throwing their blades at Timothy, his bleeding lips trembling as he told her to get Rose, his blood covered body. As she remembered all of this, her minds began to drift to her past. Memories of her lying on the ground as rain poured down on her.

'I need to get out.' She thought as she got up from the small tub, clean herself thoroughly once more under the shower and draped a towel around herself. She then changed into her casual clothing and exited the bathroom. Now sitting at the desk, she took out a map of the surrounding area she got from Steve earlier. She studied and pointed out some areas in the map 'If we're looking for harpies, we need to check the mountains and canyons'.

After she's done with the map, she stringed her bow for a bit and sharpened her arrows. Finished, she decided to call it a night; 'It's raining outside.' She thought to herself as she climbed on her bed, then tried to catch some sleep.

A few miles to the north east, another pair of adventurers had also set out on their journey in finding the prophet.


	8. Chapter VII

**VII. Setting out, a new journey awaits.**

Morning had arrived at Prairie Town, the cold air warming up a bit as rays of light began to wipe the darkness from the night. A few townsfolk can be seen walking around the small town, either enjoying a morning walk or heading to their work place. The only sound filling the air were peaceful bird chirps, that is until Dorin, the town's blacksmith, begin with his work.

The sunlight also slipped through a certain window at a certain room of the town's inn. A young warrior, around 18, lying asleep inside the room. The sun slowly climbs up and shone on his sleeping figure, starting from his ruffled bed hair to his forehead. As the light crept up to his perfectly shut eyes, he began to wake up.

'Alright! Another day, another adventure' he said mentally to himself. He then headed to the bathroom to take a bath and get ready for today. He's determined to find about Rose's whereabouts today and bring her home.

He equipped his gears and with an axe plus a bag on his back, he exited the room. When he reached the lobby to drop his room key, he saw Chrona already standing in front of the lobby desk. She had just returned her key and was studying a map half-consciously.

"Ah, Gileon, Good morning~" she greeted in a sleepy tone when she saw Gileon from the corner of her eyes. "Morning." he replied. After Gileon returned his key, the pair went out and walked towards the training ground. During their silent walk along the wet stone road across the town, Chrona yawns quite a few times and stretched her body.

Gileon noticed this as they walked, "Didn't sleep well?" He asked. "Unn~" She replied simply as she rubbed her eyes slowly. The both of them then reached their destination and meet up with Steve. "Good morning, both of you" he greeted them warmly. "Good morning, Steve-san" they replied in unison. "There's something I would like to discuss with the both of you." Steve said, after a pause he continued "Let's head to Mayor's place first for now." The both of them just followed after Steve and head to Mayor Harold's house.

Mayor Harold just exited his house with Lily when he saw them approaching his house. "Good morning Mr. Mayor" They greeted politely. "Good morning. You're all here. I was about to head to the training grounds." Harold said. "Lily, go greet them." the old man said to the little girl behind him. "Good morning." Lily bowed politely as she greeted them. The three of them smiled and returned her greetings.

"Grandpa, are they the Travelers that had saved me before?" Lily asked his grandfather. "That's right, Lily." Harold answered softly. "This here is Chrona-kun and Gileon-kun." he added, gesturing at them. Lily then walked towards Gileon and Chrona and bowed politely "Thank you for rescuing me, Chrona-san, Gileon-san." Which Gileon smiled back and Chrona hugged her as she replied "You're welcome Lily-chan." After that, Lily returned to hide behind her grandfather as she looked at Chrona and Gileon shyly.

"Mr. Mayor, should we discuss about that matter now?" Steve asked. "Oh, that's right. It'll be brief so here is fine I suppose. Gileon-kun, Chrona-kun, I'm asking for your help to find Rose. Not as this town's mayor, but as a worried parent." Harold told them. "We've been in this from the start, so we'll help you with what we can, Harold-san." Gileon replied, Chrona nodded to the statement.

"Thank you, young adventurers. Still, even with your help, the people of this town can't really help you with the search of Rose." Harold stated. "In order to help you both in traveling and rescuing Rose, I had prepared an arrangement for the both of you to head to Calderock Village." he explained. "I will go and get a pass for the guarding scout then." Steve then left hastily.

"We've arranged for you to leave this afternoon. Is that alright?" Harold asked, "It's fine, we can train for a bit before we left for Calderock." Gileon replied. Sadly, since the talks started earlier, Chrona had been half conscious to take note of everything and keeps on yawning. "I'll go take a nap then until our departure." She added. The both of them then left for their own arrangement.

Noon had come across the small town, the sun shining brightly at the sky without any clouds. Most of the people are taking a short break from their work under any shade they could find or create themselves and enjoying the breeze that flows every now and then. Despite the scorching heat, we can see a single young man in the training field.

"_Circle Break_!" he shouted as he jumped and slam his axe with such great force. Using his axe, he swept through the ground and created a wave "_Impact Wave_!" He then swing his axe forward and upwards "_Rising Slash_!" He also practiced his punch along with a swing, creating a series of follow-up attacks.

Gileon were taking a break after his mid-day training session. Although he barely feels tired from the training, the scorching sun began to get to him. "I need to cool myself down for a bit." He muttered as he headed towards a lone tree not far from the training grounds, looking for a spot.

He was studying the decent sized tree and the shade it provided would be perfect for quite a hot day like this when suddenly a wind blow upwards. As he reflexively looked upwards, he slowed down his walking pace. Catching the sight of a peacefully sleeping elven archer on one of the tree branch. The earlier wind makes her silky smooth light blond hair sways as Chrona shifted a bit from the cold wind. But unbeknownst to her, her new sleeping position is quite… 'dangerous'.

'Oi, oi… I can almost see up your skirt if you sleep like that, Chrona. Aren't you a bit unguarded?' Gileon thought as he sweat dropped at the sleeping Chrona. Then, out of nowhere, a mischievous wind blows towards Chrona. Gileon, who's still looking upwards, got a flash of Chrona's… "P-Pan…" and he passed out.

* * *

When Chrona wakes up, it was in the middle of afternoon. She looked up, looking at the beautiful orange spreading across the sky and clouds floating up high, the temperature had also cooled down after the heat from earlier.

When she averted her eyes downwards, the orange scenery was replaced by the green terrain of training grounds grass, the orange gleam making the grass seemed to glow. Then, she saw a small puddle of blood and a passed out warrior in the middle of that puddle. 'Eh? Gileon?' she thought as she jumped down and rushed a bit towards Gileon.

"Gileon… Gileon, what happened?" She asked as she shakes him lightly. Gileon suddenly shot up straight from his lying spot. "C-c-c-chrona…You're awake huh? Good thing." He said, a bit stuttering. "Why is it a good thing that I'm awake?" She asked again at the warrior sitting on the ground, a light blush on his face.

"W-well…We need to go meet Steve-san and head out to Calderock." He explained, scratching his cheek nervously as he looks away. "Unn~ let's go then~" was her reply as she offered him a hand to help him up, the both of them then head out to meet Steve.

During their small walk, they enjoyed the scenery of Prairie town. "I'll miss the peaceful prairie town." Chrona muttered. "You're saying it as if you'll never come back again." Gileon replied as he scratches the back of his head. She just giggled and replied to him "We'll need to rescue Rose-san and bring her back of course. But after that, we'll go on our own adventure, leaving this place." She explained. Gileon just looked at her, a bit mesmerized. "If you put it that way…Maybe I'll miss this town too." He told her.

The both of them arrived and met up with Steve, the three of them then head off to mayor's house. They meet Mayor Harold in front of his house. After a bit of formalities and greetings, they started the small meeting before Gileon's and Chrona's departure.

"Got everything ready, Chrona-kun, Gileon-kun?" The old man asked.

"Yeah." they replied in unison.

"I wish you the best of luck. Please, save Rose and bring her home." Harold said to them. They just nodded back at that. Suddenly Lily bursted out from inside the house, crying.

"Chrona-nee, you'll bring Rose-nee home right? Right?" She asked pleadingly between her sobs. Chrona got down on her knees and pat her head. "Unn~ I'll bring her home." She replied as she smiled gently at her. "Promise?" "Unn~ Promise." The both of them then intertwined their little finger.

"Chrona-nee, please be safe. Don't get yourself hurt." Lily said as she hugged her. "Unn~ Lily-chan too, be a good girl and help grandpa, okay?" she hugged her back and gently pat her head.

"Well then, we'll best get going now before it gets dark." Gileon said, looking at Chrona and Lily. "Harold-san, Steve-san, we'll bring Rose home." Gileon said at the mayor and Steve. Steve then handed him a scroll. "Hand this to the guarding scout, Fergus, at Cristal stream. He'll know what to do."

Gileon nodded and put the scroll on his bag. Chrona too had to let go of Lily, after one last goodbye, the both of them left for Cristal stream. The afternoon orange painted in the sky as the sun goes down when they left.

* * *

**A/N : Hi~ Thank you for reading~ I hope you enjoyed this chapter~ ^w^**

******and answering to readers out there thinking "Mercenary?". Well, I find quite a number of the Dragon Nest fic has SwordMasters as their main warrior characters, so I wanted to try out Mercenary as my main for a change~ And ********Gileon is a Mercenary in the game, I find it hard to take out that image as I started this fic with my friends images as the reference.**

**************that's all for now ! Long A/N are hard to write and not that interesting to read. see ya on the next A/N~ ^w^/**


	9. Chapter VIII

**VIII. Calderock village, Town of mercenaries.**

Out of Prairie town and heading right for Crystal Stream, Gileon and Chrona walks down the path at wind forest. Well, not really walking though. Gileon were speed walking while Chrona was tumbling every now and then.

"Let's go Chrona, Steve-san said it's not far from wind forest." Gileon told her as he walks on. Not getting a reply, he looked back to check on Chrona, but she's not there. "That girl… Where could she have jumped off to?" He muttered as scratches the back of his head. "Oiii… Chrona…" He called out to her.

Gileon searched for a while until he got around shadow forest, "Chrona… Where are you?" he shouted again as he looked around for the archer. "Gileon~" Chrona suddenly appeared behind him and patted his shoulder. He turned immediately and inquired "Where have you been?"

"Ah, you see… it seems like I… took the wrong turn when chasing a little firefly. But an old goblin and his 5 grandsons pointed the way." She explained a bit uneasily. "You really are helpless, aren't you?" Gileon said as he narrowed his eyes, she just laughed it off apologetically. The two of them then continued their journey.

This time, Gileon make sure that they walked next to each other so he can keep a better eye on her. Chrona, on the other hand, were busy looking up at the sky and scenery in front of her. And after a short and quiet walk from shadow forest, Chrona stated "A sound of a stream, it's not far from here." Gileon only nodded at her statement.

Another short walk through the woods and passed a gate, they reached Crystal Stream, just before it got dark. Crystal Stream, like its title, has a clear stream flowing across the small valley. A bridge over that stream is placed as an access to Calderock Village. There's also another gate across from the one which they entered. A cold gust of wind can be felt coming from that gate.

'Snow?' Chrona thought to herself as she looked at the gate, but Gileon called her. When they finally reached the bridge, a man can be seen standing near the bridge. "Halt." He said to the two youngsters politely. "I'm Fergus, a guarding scout at Crystal stream area. May I know who you are, adventurers?" he asked.

"I'm Gileon." Gileon started, then waiting for Chrona to introduce herself, but she didn't. When Gileon looked at her, she was still gazing at that gate from earlier. He then tapped her shoulder lightly to get her attention. "Ohh~ I'm Chrona, nice to meet you…Fergus-san." Fergus then nodded approvingly at them and inquired "Are the two of you heading to Calderock Village?" Chrona just smiled as she nodded while Gileon was busy rummaging his bag for something.

"We just got here from Prairie town. And Steve-san told us to give this to you." Gileon explained as he passed Fergus a scroll he pulled out from his bag. Fergus opened the scroll and read it thoroughly; he then nodded a few times before he finally speaks up. "Alright, I got the details from the scroll. Let's head to Calderock and meet Master Deckard for now." The three of them then started their walk.

Even from the bridge, you can already see the village gate and tall wooden walls around it. After they crossed the stone bridge, they took a left turn and walked a bit towards the entrance. After Fergus meets up with a couple of guards, the three of them passed the wooden gate, and entered the village.

* * *

Calderock Village is bigger than Prairie town, the Village is divided by a river and a stone bridge existed as a way to cross it. It has a cool and calming atmosphere with its pleasant settings and trees around the back of the buildings.

The village has a small fountain on the middle of each part of the town. It seems like a fine meet up spot for all the residents of this village. The town's houses and inns are mostly a simple and quite big two leveled house with a small veranda above the entrance, filled with flower pots or laundry ropes.

And despite the fact that they arrived after sunset, the village are still quite packed with a lot of people. Not ordinary people, mercenaries. Most of the people wandering around the town are mercenaries carrying a broad sword, hammer, or an axe. There's some sorceress as well as clerics around town, and a small number of elven archer in a group.

They walk and quickly passed a few houses and the small fountain, some of the people who were loitering around looked at them curiously. Another lot of people were drawn to Chrona's appearance, which for unknown reason, irritated Gileon. Finally Fergus slowed down as they got near the town's bridge, walking towards a big mustached man.

That big mustached man with a red bandana covering his head was expecting Fergus to come to him. "Fergus, you here to report monster's movement around crystal stream?" he asked calmly. "There haven't been anything suspicious around crystal stream, but the monsters are somewhat restless." He explained shortly.

"I'm here to report that we've got a company, sir, from Prairie town." Fergus added as he handed master Deckard a scroll, then he gestured to Gileon and Chrona politely. "A couple of young travelers I see. Welcome to Calderock Village. I'm Deckard, the free adventurer's guild master for this town, and also the head of the village." Deckard said to them with his heavy voice.

"My name is Chrona, pleased to know you, Deckard-san." Chrona introduced herself civilly. "I'm Gileon. We're here to look for someone and take her home." Gileon said as he looks around at people glancing towards their direction, well, mostly males looking at Chrona.

"Steve had given me some of the details from this letter." Deckard told them as he rolled the scroll back and put it in his pocket. "The two of you are looking for Rose-kun, Mayor Harold's granddaughter." He continued, Chrona and Gileon simply nodded at that statement. Master Deckard then open up again after thinking for a while, "Well, we'll help for the search starting tomorrow. You may rest for the night, Chrona-kun, Gileon-kun."

Gileon and Chrona then walked around town to look for an inn. They decided to stay at a small inn, called Alderfrost, near the town's entrance, not far from the fountain. The inn they picked has only 4 rooms and is the simplest inn available in Calderock Village with two of the room had been rented out only recently. After placing some silver coins for accommodation, the both of them head to their respective rooms.

The both of them took a bath and changed into comfortable clothes, did simple maintenance on their gears in their room and attending on their own business. After an hour or so loitering in his room, Gileon felt hungry. He then got up from his bed and started to walk towards his door, ready to look for any food stands around the village. "Maybe Chrona would like to come too." He muttered his thought.

As he walked out of his room and heading for Chrona's, he took a side glance at the door beside his room, a rosary is placed at the door. He took no further thought to that and passed by it, knocking on Chrona's door. "Chrona, you there? It's Gileon." He said as he knocked on her door a few times.

Said door opened slowly, "Gileon, what's the matter?" Chrona asked him before she could fully open the door. "I'm going out for a night meal at the town and was wondering if you'd like to come with me." Gileon replied as he scratches the back of his head, a hint of anxiety and nervousness on his tone.

"Unn~ I'd love to come with you. Let me get prepared for a bit, okay?" she said as she looks straight at his brown eyes. Looking back at her turquoise orbs, Gileon's nervousness spilled out as he had to force his reply out of his throat "O-okay, I-I'll just wait for you outside the inn." And with that, he walked out quickly from Chrona's door, leaving a young elf very confused.

'A walk around the village at night…. Is this… a d-d-date?' Gileon thought as he stormed off to the inn's entrance. 'No… It's just a regular hang out with a friend. That's all. You're thinking too far, Gileon. This had happened before too at prairie town.' He voiced inside his head as he waited for Chrona outside the inn.

'When you look at her up close, she really is beautiful.' He muttered again as he gaze at the stars above, "What's beautiful?" a soft voice asked from his back. "C-c-chrona… umm... The stars, yeah, the stars are really beautiful tonight." He replied nervously. She looked above and smiled silently at his statement. The two of them then head into the village food stalls area for their dinner.

* * *

They had just finished their dinner and are heading back to their lodgings, a bit late into the night. The stone main street of Calderock village was not as packed compared to a few hours ago, so they decided to just walk slowly to Alderfrost and looked closer at the village night state.

Calderock is pleasant in it's own way. With moonlight slipping through buildings gap and radiating the streets, accompanied with lights from the houses and inns around, it gave off a welcoming vibe. The sound of water flowing at night from the fountain and the river, under the starry sky, created an amusing night atmosphere.

Still, even though the setting is perfect, the two of them just remained silently as they walked, clearly lost on their own train of thoughts. Chrona was deep inside her head about something, a faraway look in her eyes. Gileon, on the other hand, was worried about her. 'I wonder what's on her mind…' keeps repeating in his head as they walked up to Alderfrost.

Gileon was a bit lost on his thought about Chrona, and about saving Rose as they got closer to Alderfrost. Gileon suddenly stopped when Chrona tugged his shirt with a shy expression from behind him. "What's wrong, Chrona?" He asked plainly.

Chrona didn't answer his question; she just kept averting her gaze yet seems like wanting to ask something. After taking a breath, she leaned in closer to Gileon, whispering something to him. "Look over there, Gileon." She whispered to him, her sight focused on a person standing outside Alderfrost. "That person?" He replied in a low tone.

"Unn~" she then pulled Gileon softly to get a better look on this particular person. After they're a good distance away where they can see better, she looked at Gileon again. "Look closely Gileon. Aren't you curious too?" she whispered again. "What do you mean?" another reply by Gileon as he studies the person intently.

"I'm curious, because…" she trailed off as she averted her gaze. Gileon too, right now, are having a dumbfounded expression plastered on his face. "So… Gileon, that person… is she… a boy?"


End file.
